Colony High School campus safety officer Tony DeFabiis has a pretty intimidating work belt, but his smile outshines it.

“I think of these kids as 2,100 of my own,” DeFabiis said. “I’m like their guardian – I’m able to interact with them, talk about how their day is going, keep them safe and see them grow during their time at the high school.”

DeFabiis’ relationship with students on the Ontario campus is not uncommon among classified employees – which include bus drivers, food service workers and secretaries.

While teacher layoffs have grabbed the most attention in recent months, the loss of a classified employee has a sizeable impact on a school’s day-to-day operations.

“Virtually all districts say they want to keep cuts away from the classroom, which is a euphemism for not wanting to lay off any teachers, but a classified employee plays an important role in a student’s education experience,” said Frank Polito, spokesman for the California School Employees Association.

These employees can develop unique relationships with students, which include playing the role of a parent during school hours.

Bus drivers are parents when it comes to transportation, food-service workers feed students meals, and a secretary often serves as a school nurse or mom, bandaging kids’ bruises or scraped elbows, Polito said.

“I think that students relate to classified employees much more than teachers, not to take away from what they do,” he said.

“I believe that students open up to our employees more because they don’t have that fierce authority figure. A teacher has an impact on their grade and students can sometimes be wary of telling something to someone who can impact that.”

Classified employees perform a wide range of work at public schools and community colleges, including security, office and clerical work, maintenance as well as operations and transportation.

They differ from certificated employees – such as teachers, counselors and nurses – who have a professional certificate.

A lot of classified employees provide academic assistance and para-educator services, library and media assistance as well as computer services.

“They keep the schools cool in the summer and warm in the winter. … Any time you take a classified employee out of the equation it does impact a student’s day,” Polito said.

As budget cuts continue to force many schools to increase class sizes, which means less one-on-one time with a student, Polito said a para-educator provides a student with the individual attention that a teacher can’t.

Many times students rely on classified workers to be there for them, said Lori Matheny, braille specialist with the San Bernardino County Office of Education. Matheny may not be labeled a teacher because she doesn’t have a teaching credential, but she is an educator.

A braille specialist assists in the communication and transcription of information for visually impaired students, teachers, parents and others.

“Students rely on you and they know that you’re going to do everything possible for them,” she said. “As para-educators, we are the extra ears and extra hands for the teachers.”

As the largest classified school employees union in the United States representing nearly 230,000 classified employees in California, CSEA offers two events to help its members keep up with new technology and better resources to assist their students.

The first is the para-educators’ conference, which was held in March. The conference included sessions about sign language, Spanish, autism, a writing class, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, narcotics, bullying and cyber-bullying, Internet predators, math and classroom management skills.

The other is the maintenance and Operations Skills Development Academy, which will be held in August. It provides workers with important skills and safety training to use on the job.

Unlike certificated employees, who must be notified by March 15 of pending layoffs, according to the state Education Code, classified employees are notified 45 days prior to the end of the school year.

The one bit of advice Carol Arrington has for an employee who has received a layoff notice is to exercise their “bumping rights.”

“You do this so you can be on the re-employment list. If you have more seniority in the classification that you’re serving in than the least senior person in another position then you have the right to bump them out of their job,” said Arrington, president of the Ontario-Montclair School District CSEA Chapter 108.

This right can be somewhat uncomfortable, especially when you know the person, she said.

“Essentially, you could be bumping someone you’ve worked with for years, but in this day and age, the goal is to be employed,” Arrington said.

Recently, an OMSD employee was given a layoff notice, but could have kept her job if she exercised her bumping right. The only issue was that she would have had to bump her best friend.

“Everyone is trying to hold onto their job, but this woman chose to lose hers,”‘ Arrington said.

DeFabiis’ workbelt speaks to the many elements of his job.

Gloves to take care of blood.

Handcuffs for someone who gets out of control.

Metal detector for unwelcome weapons.

Keys to get into every building on campus.

Walkie-talkie to call for backup.

But students rarely see those items.

“What’s up, buddy?” said DeFabiis to a couple walking toward him.

As the students get closer, DeFabiis fist-bumps the male teen.

“You guys going to prom? You got your prom tickets?”

He spends about five minutes with the couple during his routine lunch-time supervision.

Despite his physique and sense of fashion, DeFabiis’ job extends beyond the scope of walking around Colony High.

As a safety officer, he and four colleagues spend a lot of time talking and getting to know students. So much so, they start to know the names of almost every student on campus. For Colony High, that’s 2,100 students.

“The more interaction we have with students the better,” said DeFabiis.

“If there is a kid who doesn’t want to go to school, we can tell and we can say, `Hey what’s going on? Let’s talk. Why don’t you want to go to school? Let’s talk to your counselor.’

“When you inquire they start to open up to you and you start to talk to them and find out what’s wrong,” he said. “For whatever reason, students see the workers as someone who can relate to their teen social issues.”

Like many of the students she works with, Matheny too has a slight visual impairment.

“I have empathy, not sympathy. I don’t believe in sympathy because that’s feeling sorry or bad for someone,” she said regarding dealing with students who are visually impaired or blind.

“I think it may take a student or anybody time to adjust to learning what needs to be done, but I know with hard work and sticking to it, it’s do-able. … It’s a matter of staying positive with them.”

What is CSEA?

The California School Employees Association is the largest classified school employees union in the United States. The association represents nearly 230,000 classified employees in California.

CSEA was formed in 1927 by a group of Oakland custodians who saw the need to gain rights and benefits for themselves and other classified employees.

Through this initial determination, the association proved to be an organization that would stand the test of time. In 2001, CSEA members voted to become an independently chartered union of the AFL-CIO.

CSEA continues to thrive as a member-run union. It is democratically controlled by volunteers in more than 750 local chapters in California. The union is led by the CSEA board of directors. Labor relations representatives and other professional staff work under the authority of CSEA’s executive director.

SOURCE: California School Employees Association

What are classified employees?

Classified employees perform a wide range of work in public schools and community colleges, including security, food services, office and clerical work, school maintenance and operations, transportation, academic assistance and para-educator services, library and media assistance and computer services.

A certificated employee is a person who holds a professional education certificate, including teachers, counselors and nurses.

Most classified employees get their pension through the California Public Employees Retirement System. The agency manages pension and health benefits for more than 1.6million California public employees, retirees and their families.

CalPERS is a defined benefit retirement plan. It provides benefits based on a member’s years of service, age and highest compensation. In addition, benefits are provided for disability and death, with payments in some cases going to survivors or beneficiaries of eligible members.

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